Steel

“Because you’re her protégé, I gather. Her apprentice. Why wouldn’t she tell you?”

“I’m not anything to her,” Jill said, and she wasn’t entirely certain that was a lie.

“Oh, but you are, and you don’t even know why, do you? She didn’t tell you why you’re so important, did she?” He laughed softly. “I know her. She’s too soft. Her reputation says otherwise, but I know her.”

Jill thought of Jenks and knew that Cooper wasn’t soft. Blane didn’t know her; he only thought he did. He was arrogant. “She hates you. She’s looking for you.”

“And you must not think much of her if you’ve come looking for me instead of keeping your lot in with her.”

“I just want to go home,” she said.

“My dear, what happened to you was a mistake and I’m sure I’m sorry for it. But I need that sword.”

Maybe, she thought, Captain Cooper and the Diana hadn’t been meant to fish her out of the ocean at all. Maybe, if Blane had been behind the bizarre time warp, he was supposed to find her first. Or if he hadn’t caused it, he’d known that the shard had returned to his world. She’d emerged with it in that exact spot, where Blane had destroyed the Newark—had he been looking for her? Was she supposed to have been on the Heart’s Revenge the whole time? As if there was a reason that all this was happening in the first place. She thought of what those first chaotic, confusing days had been like, and imagined herself among these men instead, without Abe’s smile and Henry’s joking. Blane’s crew didn’t seem to have any women among them at all.

She was glad

that hadn’t happened. She was glad the Diana had found her.

So what did she do now? She needed a moment to think.

“Why did you bring me here? Can you send me back or not?” she said. Tried to say with some authority, as if she could persuade him.

“I didn’t bring you here,” he said, amused. “I was simply looking for the piece of my sword.”

But he couldn’t have brought it back without someone hanging on to it—didn’t he see that? It had been lying buried at the edge of the ocean for centuries without being washed back to him. He could have just brought it back—but someone had to carry it, and she was the one unlucky enough to pick it up. And now she was bound to it. She felt it like a touch in the back of her skull.

“I don’t belong here,” she said.

He looked at her askance, curious for the first time rather than just annoyed. “Just how far away did it land when Marjory threw it?”

“A long way away,” Jill said quietly.

He wasn’t going to help her. This had all been an accident, and she didn’t have a part to play at all.

He studied his ship for another moment, then turned to her, donning a bright tone. Bright, but false. “Tell me—what is your name?”

“Jill,” she said.

“Tell me, Jill—do you think Marjory will give me the piece in exchange for you? Would she do that to keep you safe?”

She didn’t have to think about it. “No. I don’t think she cares about me at all.”

“Then I think we’re done here,” he said, and waved a gesture at her two guards.

They grabbed her arms and held tight. One of them held a rope he didn’t have before, while the other wrenched her hands back. They bound her wrists behind her while she thrashed like a beached fish, uselessly.

They dragged her to the edge of the overlook, their intentions clear. With her hands free, able to reach out and brace herself or slow her fall, she might survive being thrown over the edge. Tied up, she’d tumble down until she broke.

She screamed, threw her weight back to try to anchor herself, but her two captors were stronger. Don’t parry, she thought. Don’t fall into a battle of strength—use your brain.

“Fight me!” she shouted, twisting to direct the words to Blane. “I challenge you to a duel! Fight me!”

Blane raised his hand, and the two men stopped their progress toward the edge. Jill slumped in their grasps and sighed. She’d bought herself a few more minutes, then. Maybe.

“You fight?” he said. “With a sword?”

“I’m not just wearing it for decoration,” she said. “And I’m pretty good.” That part was pure bluster.